Fifteen-year-old Connie Kittredge disappears in 1953, presumed drowned. Almost forty years later her skeleton is unearthed in the disused dumbwaiter of Belgrath House, recently restored and opened as a B & B. The house sits on an island in the tidal estuary of the Halifax River, Daytona Beach, Florida.
Clarice and Otis Campion function as caretakers of Belgrath. Clarice, along with Miss Letitia Lorraine, retired star of the Silent Screen, former owner of the house, and permanent guest tries to solve the mystery. The skeleton’s discovery coincides with the reunion of Connie’s Class of ’57. A wake held at Belgrath for Connie provides sleuthing opportunities, but also affords the murderer a chance to strike again, using cherry laurel-spiked iced tea.
Inadvertently left behind during a forced evacuation of Belgrath due to Category Four Hurricane Aphrodite, Clarice faces a killer willing to strike again, using nature itself—a tidal surge and rapidly rising water—as a weapon.

Tell us the story behind the story. What inspired you to write this novel?

I remembered a tour of an historic house in Hannibal, Missouri. The house stood vacant for years, and local children used to sneak in and play. They dared one another to go to the haunted third floor. From that I said, “What if?” What if one of them went up those stairs and never came down? The children, terrified, vowed not to tell. What if the child’s skeleton was unearthed years later? How would the rest of those children feel?

Tell us about the book cover. (The cover shows a white, two-story house with verandas on each floor. Palm trees are visible in the background. In the foreground sits a brooding pelican. I found a stock photo of a house in Key West which I emailed to the artist. I wanted the cover to signal Florida. The pelican is integral to the story. I wanted a skeleton in a rain slicker, too, but the logistics of that didn't work out).

How does it represent your book? How did you choose the artwork?

Answered in the preceding.

Welcome to
Read Between The Lines Leslie.

Leslie can
you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I taught
Business Writing and Technical Writing, with an occasional Creative Writing
class, at the University of Central Florida for ten years. I hold a B.A. in
English with a Literature Concentration and an M.A in English with a Creative
Writing Concentration, both from UCF. My original education was in nursing,
first from Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis and then a B.S. from the University
of Kentucky. Sandwiched between these educational experiences was marriage and
motherhood. My husband is a retired engineer from McDonnell-Douglas. We have
two grown children and four grandchildren. My writing reflects hailing from two
border states, Kentucky and Missouri, and forty-four years in Florida.
Nursey-nurse creeps back in there, too!

From start
to finish how long did it take you to write Make Old Bones?

Writing was
the easy part—four years total. Selling it took a lot longer.

Where do
you get your ideas from?

One of the
six prominent features of Southern writing is a sense of place. You always know
where you are in a Southern novel. We don’t set our stories in Anywhere, USA.
Create a colorful locale, and plots suggest themselves from the culture,
history, cuisine, flora, and fauna of a place.

While
writing do you work with an outline or just let the words flow?

With Make Old Bones I knew the beginning and
the end. I knew the identity of the murderer. It’s that pesky middle! In my
sequels, I let the computer tell me what happens next. I’m always surprised
with what pops up, and I don’t have to worry about waiting for inspiration.

Is there
any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up
or as an adult?

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Welcome to Read Between the Lines. Get reviews from the most awesome indie and up and coming authors.
I love to read. Mostly Dark Romance but I do love a variety genres from Contemporary - Paranormal, whether it is Adult or New Adult and SOME YA (extremely picky on YA titles) and all of its sub genre, but I do read a variety of things some of which will be Erotic/Erotica and all of it's sub genres (one of my new found loves). So please beware that not all the reviews on my blog will be suitable for younger eyes!! Some of the most recent I like to read is Steampunk and Dystopian. Sci-Fi is NOT One of My Preferred Genres So I will be extremely picky with this genre.

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Welcome to Read Between the Lines. We are starting a Blog Tour Services "RBTL Book Promotions" so that we can help you get your books recognized. You may say Why A Blog Tour this is why
Stand Out – Thousands of Books are published a year and with online sites self-publishing has never been easier. You want to stand out from the pack!
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What is a Blog Tour?
Online book promotion is effective due to dedicated Bloggers who post book reviews. Most online bloggers do this out of a passion they have for reading and already have a dedicated following.
Bloggers host Interviews, Guest Posts, Author Spotlights, Giveaways, Reviews, Excerpts and more. Each of these give you as an author a chance to reach prospective readers.
My job at RBTL Book Promotions is to set you up with only the best Blog Sites for your book. A Blog Tour is a lasting marketing effort. Bloggers will keep your Review, Interview, etc. in their archive which will give you future exposure.
Why RBTL Book Promotions?Cost effective - Compared to other Blog Tour’s RBTL Book Promotions is an affordable choice.
Stress Free – Apart from sending in your book information, interview answers, and guest posts, you don't have to lift a finger.
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The books I review here at Read Between The Lines are either bought by me or gifted through giveaways, or hops. I do not receive money for my reviews on books that are provided to me by the publisher or author of the book. These books are sent to me for an honest review. I am also a host for different blog tour sites and receive books to review for blog tours but again I read and review these for free and give my honest opinion in my review.

About Me

I love to READ BOOKS. Anything from Contemporary to Paranormal, whether it is Adult or YA (not kids Books or MG) and all of its sub genre, but I do read a variety of things some of which will be Erotic/Erotica and all of it's sub genres. As of Late also Loving the Dark Romance, Mafia/Hitman (err Bad Boys), MC and MMA books.So please beware that not all the reviews on my blog will be suitable for younger eyes! Some of the most recent I like to read is Steampunk and Dystopian. I am married to my best friend he is great and I have a beautiful daughter. I have two cute cats err furbabies that get jealous when I read or on the PC.